Microcephaly: Pernambuco protocol to be used worldwide

The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to use in other countries the protocols implemented in Pernambuco on treatment for babies born with neurological malformations. "We will disseminate this work so that everyone can benefit from the excellent work done in this country." The announcement was issued by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who was in Recife city, the state capital, to visit the Integrative Medicine Institute Professor Fernando Figueira (IMIP).

IMIP is one of the first health care institutions of Pernambuco to serve children with microcephaly and became a reference in the state. During the visit, the director spoke with researchers and physicians from Pernambuco and attended a technical presentation given by the medicine institute, and state and municipal health departments on actions to combat the Aedes aegypti and to monitor people affected by Zika virus and other diseases transmitted by the mosquito.

The director noted that a similar outbreak happened in French Polynesia in 2013 and 2014, but that they had not identified the link between Zika and neurological problems like microcephaly. According to her, due to the Brazilian discovery, the French Polynesia "looked back" and identified the same pattern, making the link between zika and microcephaly more evident.

She also congratulated Brazil for the good work and declared that the country is not alone. According to the WHO director, the world will help the country find ways to combat the Aedes aegypti and the Zika virus. "At this point, our first line of defense is to use various methods to eliminate the mosquito. Unfortunately we have no vaccine, nor a reliable diagnosis, we have only a few ways to address the problem. "

Dressing a shirt of the federal government's Zika Zero campaign, she has also considered the mosquito complicated and persistent, since the Aedes aegypti has always found ways to adapt and survive from combat methods adopted by several countries reporting cases of dengue and chikungunya.

After visiting Pernambuco, the WHO director-general went to Rio de Janeiro where, together with Health Minister Marcelo Castro, visited the federal government's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), where researchers are developing a vaccine against the Zika virus.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta